WELCOME TO THE 2024

CONCERT SEASON

Laurie Anderson "Let X=X" with Sexmob (Portland)
Mar
29

Laurie Anderson "Let X=X" with Sexmob (Portland)


Arguably, the U.S.’ most popular avant-garde performance artist, the two-time GRAMMY award winner Anderson has created ground-breaking works that span art, theatre, experimental music, and technology. Her recording career, launched by Big Science in 1981, includes the soundtrack to her feature film Home of the Brave, and her 2001 album Life on a String. Anderson’s live shows range from simple spoken word to elaborate multi-media stage performances. In 2002, Anderson was appointed the first artist-in-residence of NASA, culminating in her 2004 touring solo performance The End of the Moon. In 2010, a retrospective of her visuals and installation work opened in São Paulo, Brazil. Her largest exhibition to date has been shows at The Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art in 2022.

‘X = X’ features the enduring avant-gardist Anderson  --backed by the New York underground jazz combo Sexmob-- in a set of revisited vintage and recent songs with a grooving spirit.

The New York Times called her recent Brooklyn Academy of Music performance a “thrilling multimedia show.”  As for the music, the Times says ‘X = X’ is not “a historical recreation of past recordings; Sexmob’s sound is a beefier one than on Anderson’s albums” with Sexmob contributing inventive arrangements that never over-power the show’s impish 76-year old frontwoman.

Sexmob is Steven Bernstein, Briggan Krauss, Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen, and Doug Wieselman.

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Laurie Anderson "Let X=X" with Sexmob (Seattle)
Mar
30

Laurie Anderson "Let X=X" with Sexmob (Seattle)


Arguably, the U.S.’ most popular avant-garde performance artist, the two-time GRAMMY award winner Anderson has created ground-breaking works that span art, theatre, experimental music, and technology. Her recording career, launched by Big Science in 1981, includes the soundtrack to her feature film Home of the Brave, and her 2001 album Life on a String. Anderson’s live shows range from simple spoken word to elaborate multi-media stage performances. In 2002, Anderson was appointed the first artist-in-residence of NASA, culminating in her 2004 touring solo performance The End of the Moon. In 2010, a retrospective of her visuals and installation work opened in São Paulo, Brazil. Her largest exhibition to date has been shows at The Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art in 2022.

‘X = X’ features the enduring avant-gardist Anderson  --backed by the New York underground jazz combo Sexmob-- in a set of revisited vintage and recent songs with a grooving spirit.

The New York Times called her recent Brooklyn Academy of Music performance a “thrilling multimedia show.”  As for the music, the Times says ‘X = X’ is not “a historical recreation of past recordings; Sexmob’s sound is a beefier one than on Anderson’s albums” with Sexmob contributing inventive arrangements that never over-power the show’s impish 76-year old frontwoman.

Sexmob is Steven Bernstein, Briggan Krauss, Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen, and Doug Wieselman.

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STG Presents & PDX Jazz Welcomes Fatoumata Diawara in Seattle
Apr
5

STG Presents & PDX Jazz Welcomes Fatoumata Diawara in Seattle


Hailed as one of the most vital standard-bearers of modern African music, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Fatoumata Diawara is taking her artistry to fresh and thrilling heights. Boldly experimental yet respectful of her Malian roots, Fatoumata’s music defines her as the voice of young African womanhood – proud of her heritage but with a vision that looks confidently to the future. Her live performances “scream with energy” (NPR), her stage presence both “hypnotic” and “captivating” (Rolling Stone).

With her new album London Ko, Fatoumata Diawara continues to reinvent traditional African music, after taking us back to her Mandinka roots. Her last album, Fenfo, saw her really begin to invent her own style, it earned her nominations at the Grammy Awards and Victoires de la Musique in 2019. Still rewriting the rules, Fatou plunges us back into her eclectic, avant-garde universe. With the different colours she brings to her music (afrobeat, jazz, pop, electro and even hip hop), it is impossible to put London Ko into any one box. “I put all my love, my soul and my body into the creative process for this album.” Sharper than ever with her words, she strikes a perfect balance between synthetic sounds and traditional Malian rhythms. A central figure in the English music world and a real connoisseur of African music, Damon Albarn co-produced the album, and features on no fewer than six tracks.

As a singer, actress, songwriter, and activist, Fatoumata has shared her message and experience with audiences all over the world. With performances at Glastonbury and other major festivals, Fatoumata has also worked with some of the biggest names in contemporary music. She recorded with Bobby Womack and Herbie Hancock; assembled a West African super-group featuring Amadou & Mariam, Oumou Sangaré, and Toumani Diabaté to record a song calling for peace in her troubled homeland; climbed aboard Damon Albarn’s star-studded Africa Express, which culminated in her sharing a stage with Sir Paul McCartney; toured and collaborated with Gorillaz on the track “Désolé” from their 2020 album; and performed with countless other esteemed musicians such as Omara Portuondo, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Habib Koité, Roberto Fonseca, and Rokia Traoré. In fact, it was fellow Malian songstress Rokia Traoré who encouraged Fatoumata to pick up a guitar, a suggestion that opened the door to her career in music.

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John Scofield Trio featuring Vicente Archer & Bill Stewart in Kirkland, WA
Apr
9

John Scofield Trio featuring Vicente Archer & Bill Stewart in Kirkland, WA


featuring Vicente Archer & Bill Stewart

Aside from being one of the principal innovators of modern jazz guitar, John Scofield is a creative artist of an even rarer sort: a stylistic chameleon who has forged a consistent, rock-solid aesthetic identity. A triple Grammy award winning artist with more than 40 recordings to his credit, Scofield has expressed himself in the vernacular of bebop, blues, jazz-funk, organ jazz, acoustic chamber jazz, electronically tinged groove music, jam band style and orchestral ensembles with ease and enthusiasm. Now he adds yet another credit to his resume: solo guitarist.
 
“My main focus in guitar playing has always centered around being part of a group; exploring the music that happens when musicians listen to each other and improvise together. Quite frankly, until now, I’ve avoided playing solo concerts and before starting this endeavor had done only one solo performance in public since I was a child. I still have occasional nightmares about playing Greensleeves for my sixth grade class!  It gets pretty lonely up there by yourself and I hadn't considered solo guitar as the perfect platform for improvising. Not to mention that I’m no Segovia either! All that said, after playing guitar for 56 years, I’m finally interested in going it alone and exploring the possibilities. It's taken me decades to realize that I’ve been playing unaccompanied guitar at home or in hotel rooms every day since 1962! I’ve put a lot of thought in lately to how I can present an evening of solo guitar that represents my passions and sensibilities. My idea is to keep it song based, playing jazz, country and rock tunes that I love as well as some of my original compositions. I plan to employ my Looper pedal occasionally when I want to play over myself. I've been preparing for nearly a year, working my brain in new directions while looking forward to these shows with excitement and a small bit of trepidation. I hope you enjoy being on this journey with me.” - JS

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Cyrille Aimée
Apr
9

Cyrille Aimée

PDX Jazz Member Presale: Wednesday, March 20 at 10AM PST
General On Sale: Friday, March 22 at 10AM PST


Cyrille Aimée grew up in a multilingual household full of music where dancing was an everyday activity, soundtracked by the Afro-Caribbean sounds of her mother’s native Dominican Republic. The family home was in Samois-sur-Seine, the location of the Django Reinhardt Festival, and the teenage Cyrille would climb out of her bedroom window at night to mingle with the players, igniting a passion for jazz.

Moving to New York City, her talents quickly gained her a reputation among her peers as a matchless interpreter of song. She performed and recorded with Roy Hargrove and stole the show in front of the notoriously hard-to-please crowd at the Harlem Apollo. Steven Sondheim invited her to star in a tribute at New York’s City Centre, backed by Wynton Marsalis. Her 2019 album Move On featured versions of Sondheim’s songs which received praise from Sondheim himself, and her version of "Marry Me a Little", was nominated for a 2019 Grammy Award.

At the height of her New York success, new horizons beckoned. Visiting New Orleans, she fell in love with the energy and diversity of the city and made it her home. Linking back to New York to connect up all the dots, she teamed up with producer/multi-instrumentalist Jake Sherman, and together they have created her latest album, A Fleur de Peau. to be released on a new label, the London-based imprint Whirlwind Recordings.

Combining the depth and sophistication of jazz, the immediacy of pop, the irrepressible dance rhythms of the Caribbean, it’s more intimate and more accessible than anything Cyrille has done before.

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John Scofield Trio featuring Vicente Archer & Bill Stewart in Bend, OR
Apr
10

John Scofield Trio featuring Vicente Archer & Bill Stewart in Bend, OR


featuring Vicente Archer & Bill Stewart

Aside from being one of the principal innovators of modern jazz guitar, John Scofield is a creative artist of an even rarer sort: a stylistic chameleon who has forged a consistent, rock-solid aesthetic identity. A triple Grammy award winning artist with more than 40 recordings to his credit, Scofield has expressed himself in the vernacular of bebop, blues, jazz-funk, organ jazz, acoustic chamber jazz, electronically tinged groove music, jam band style and orchestral ensembles with ease and enthusiasm. Now he adds yet another credit to his resume: solo guitarist.
 
“My main focus in guitar playing has always centered around being part of a group; exploring the music that happens when musicians listen to each other and improvise together. Quite frankly, until now, I’ve avoided playing solo concerts and before starting this endeavor had done only one solo performance in public since I was a child. I still have occasional nightmares about playing Greensleeves for my sixth grade class!  It gets pretty lonely up there by yourself and I hadn't considered solo guitar as the perfect platform for improvising. Not to mention that I’m no Segovia either! All that said, after playing guitar for 56 years, I’m finally interested in going it alone and exploring the possibilities. It's taken me decades to realize that I’ve been playing unaccompanied guitar at home or in hotel rooms every day since 1962! I’ve put a lot of thought in lately to how I can present an evening of solo guitar that represents my passions and sensibilities. My idea is to keep it song based, playing jazz, country and rock tunes that I love as well as some of my original compositions. I plan to employ my Looper pedal occasionally when I want to play over myself. I've been preparing for nearly a year, working my brain in new directions while looking forward to these shows with excitement and a small bit of trepidation. I hope you enjoy being on this journey with me.” - JS

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John Scofield Trio featuring Vicente Archer & Bill Stewart
Apr
11

John Scofield Trio featuring Vicente Archer & Bill Stewart


featuring Vicente Archer & Bill Stewart

Aside from being one of the principal innovators of modern jazz guitar, John Scofield is a creative artist of an even rarer sort: a stylistic chameleon who has forged a consistent, rock-solid aesthetic identity. A triple Grammy award winning artist with more than 40 recordings to his credit, Scofield has expressed himself in the vernacular of bebop, blues, jazz-funk, organ jazz, acoustic chamber jazz, electronically tinged groove music, jam band style and orchestral ensembles with ease and enthusiasm. Now he adds yet another credit to his resume: solo guitarist.
 
“My main focus in guitar playing has always centered around being part of a group; exploring the music that happens when musicians listen to each other and improvise together. Quite frankly, until now, I’ve avoided playing solo concerts and before starting this endeavor had done only one solo performance in public since I was a child. I still have occasional nightmares about playing Greensleeves for my sixth grade class!  It gets pretty lonely up there by yourself and I hadn't considered solo guitar as the perfect platform for improvising. Not to mention that I’m no Segovia either! All that said, after playing guitar for 56 years, I’m finally interested in going it alone and exploring the possibilities. It's taken me decades to realize that I’ve been playing unaccompanied guitar at home or in hotel rooms every day since 1962! I’ve put a lot of thought in lately to how I can present an evening of solo guitar that represents my passions and sensibilities. My idea is to keep it song based, playing jazz, country and rock tunes that I love as well as some of my original compositions. I plan to employ my Looper pedal occasionally when I want to play over myself. I've been preparing for nearly a year, working my brain in new directions while looking forward to these shows with excitement and a small bit of trepidation. I hope you enjoy being on this journey with me.” - JS

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Ibrahim Maalouf
May
1

Ibrahim Maalouf

Members Discount of $5 per ticket available on Advance Purchase Tickets Only.
Discount not valid on the Day of Show.

In 16 albums, Ibrahim Maalouf has gone from being the winner of the world's greatest international classical trumpet competitions to the most popular jazz artist on the French music scene. Filling the Volkswagen Arena in Istanbul, the Lincoln Jazz Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in 2016 he became the first jazz musician in history to sell out France's largest concert hall, the Accor Arena in Paris Bercy.

Spotted by living legend Quincy Jones and described as a "Virtuoso" by the New York Times, Ibrahim has collaborated in recent years with Wynton Marsalis, Angelique Kidjo, Melody Gardot, the Chronos Quartet, Trilok Gurtu, Josh Groban, Marcus Miller, Salif Keita, and many others.

In 2021 he appeared on Stephen Colbert's Late Show with Jon Batiste, who introduced him as a living jazz legend.

After participating alongside Sting in the reopening of the Bataclan in Paris, then paying tribute at his funeral to Tignous, one of the cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo murdered, then honoring the memory of the victims of the attacks of autumn 2015 during a national tribute by composing an anthem sung by the young Louane, the musician and composer of film music, multi-awarded (Victories of Music, Caesars, Lumières, ...) has become in a few years an essential artist and a symbol of intercultural dialogue to the point of being chosen to interpret the national anthem in front of 6 million viewers on July 14, 2021 at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Never where one expects him to be, with his 17th album "Capacity To Love", Ibrahim Maalouf intends to leave his mark on the world with a popular, original, surprising and innovative music.

In 2022, he became the first Lebanese instrumentalist nominated for a Grammy Award for his album Queen of Sheba in collaboration with Angelique Kidjo.

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Lenny White - Buster Williams - Noah Haidu (Early Show)
May
24

Lenny White - Buster Williams - Noah Haidu (Early Show)


Buster Williams has played, recorded and collaborated with jazz giants such as Art Blakey, Betty Carter, Carmen McRae, Chet Baker, Chick Corea, Dexter Gordon, Jimmy Heath, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Herbie Hancock, Larry Coryell, Lee Konitz, McCoy Tyner, Nancy Wilson, Elvin Jones, Miles Davis, The Jazz Crusaders, Sarah Vaughan, Benny Golson, Hank Jones, Lee Morgan, Bobby Hutcherson, Sonny Rollins, Count Basie, and Freddie Hubbard to name a few.

Lenny White is still best-known for being part of Chick Corea's Return To Forever in the 1970's. He largely started his career on top, playing regularly with Jackie McLean (1968) and recording "Bitches Brew" with Miles Davis in 1969. White was soon working with some of the who's who of jazz including Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Gato Barbieri, Gil Evans, Stanley Clarke and Stan Getz among others.

Pianist Noah Haidu has arrived as an important new voice in jazz who combines modernism, soul, and swing into his own unique approach. Recently the national media has focused on Noah as a force to be reckoned with: The Wall Street Journal singled out Haidu for a major write-up stating that “by now he has his own unique approach…sounding buoyant and and free like a pent up spirit released.”

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Lenny White - Buster Williams - Noah Haidu (Late Show)
May
24

Lenny White - Buster Williams - Noah Haidu (Late Show)


Buster Williams has played, recorded and collaborated with jazz giants such as Art Blakey, Betty Carter, Carmen McRae, Chet Baker, Chick Corea, Dexter Gordon, Jimmy Heath, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Herbie Hancock, Larry Coryell, Lee Konitz, McCoy Tyner, Nancy Wilson, Elvin Jones, Miles Davis, The Jazz Crusaders, Sarah Vaughan, Benny Golson, Hank Jones, Lee Morgan, Bobby Hutcherson, Sonny Rollins, Count Basie, and Freddie Hubbard to name a few.

Lenny White is still best-known for being part of Chick Corea's Return To Forever in the 1970's. He largely started his career on top, playing regularly with Jackie McLean (1968) and recording "Bitches Brew" with Miles Davis in 1969. White was soon working with some of the who's who of jazz including Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Gato Barbieri, Gil Evans, Stanley Clarke and Stan Getz among others.

Pianist Noah Haidu has arrived as an important new voice in jazz who combines modernism, soul, and swing into his own unique approach. Recently the national media has focused on Noah as a force to be reckoned with: The Wall Street Journal singled out Haidu for a major write-up stating that “by now he has his own unique approach…sounding buoyant and and free like a pent up spirit released.”

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Emmet Cohen Trio
May
29

Emmet Cohen Trio

PDX Jazz Member Presale: Wednesday, March 20 at 10AM PST
General On Sale: Friday, March 22 at 10AM PST


Multifaceted American jazz pianist and composer Emmet Cohen has emerged as one of his generation's pivotal figures in music and the related arts. A recognized prodigy, Cohen began Suzuki method piano instruction at age three, and his playing quickly became a mature melding of musicality, technique, and concept. Downbeat observed that his "nimble touch, measured stride and warm harmonic vocabulary indicate he's above any convoluted technical showmanship." In the same spirit, Cohen himself has noted that playing jazz is "about communicating the deepest levels of humanity and individuality; it's essentially about connections," both among musicians and with audiences. He leads his namesake ensemble, the "Emmet Cohen Trio," is a vibrant solo performer, and is in constant demand as a sideman. Possessing a fluid technique, an innovative tonal palette, and an extensive repertoire, Cohen plays with the command of a seasoned veteran and the passion of an artist fully devoted to his medium.

Emmet Cohen is committed to the intergenerational transfer of artistic knowledge, history, and traditions. His signature professional undertaking is the "Masters Legacy Series," a celebratory set of recordings and interviews honoring legendary jazz musicians. He serves as both producer and pianist for each album in the series. The goal of this landmark, ongoing project is to provide musicians of multiple generations a forum to transfer the unwritten folklore that is America's unique musical idiom.  Cohen has observed that playing jazz "is enriched immeasurably by connecting and studying with jazz masters, forging backward to the very creation of the art form." Volume one of the "Masters Legacy Series" features drummer Jimmy Cobb, and volume two spotlights bassist Ron Carter. Future "Masters Legacy Series" releases will include Cohen's recordings with Benny Golson, Tootie Heath, and George Coleman.

Emmet Cohen's exacting keyboard artistry has garnered numerous accolades from the international jazz community. He placed first in both the American Jazz Pianists competition (2014) and the Phillips Piano Competition at the University of West Florida (2011). He was a finalist in the prestigious American Pianists Association's Cole Porter Fellowship (2015, 2011) and the Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition (2011). Cohen has appeared in world-renowned jazz events, including the Newport, Monterey, North Sea, Bern, Edinburgh, Detroit, and Jerusalem jazz festivals, as well as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. He has also performed at the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Birdland, Jazz Standard, London's Ronnie Scott's, Jazzhaus Montmartre in Copenhagen, Lincoln Center's Rose Hall, the Cotton Club in Tokyo, and the Kennedy Center, and was received in the Oval Office by President Obama. He is currently Hammond B-3 organist-in-residence at Harlem's SMOKE jazz club.

Besides leading the "Emmet Cohen Trio," Cohen has appeared regularly with Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Jimmy Cobb, George Coleman, Jimmy Heath, Tootie Heath, Houston Person, Kurt Elling, Billy Hart, and Brian Lynch, among others. Cohen is also a member of Christian McBride's trio "Tip City," the "Herlin Riley Quartet," and the "Ali Jackson Trio," and serves as pianist and music director for jazz vocalist and television personality Lea DeLaria. His recordings include "Masters Legacy Series featuring Ron Carter" (2018); "Masters Legacy Series featuring Jimmy Cobb" (2017); "New Directions" (2016) with Herlin Riley; "Questioned Answer" (2014), co-produced with Brian Lynch; "Infinity" (2013), featuring his Italian Trio; and his acclaimed debut CD "In the Element" (2011), with bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Rodney Green.

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Salami Rose Joe Louis (Late Show)
Mar
2

Salami Rose Joe Louis (Late Show)


Late Show | Doors: 11PM | Show: 11:55PM

Bay Area singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Lindsay Olsen is the brilliant mind behind the warped and magical project Salami Rose Joe Louis. Drawing from her studies in planetary sciences, she creates a unique experience: exploring ideas of multiverses and climate change through the lens of a fictional post-apocalyptic keyboard-toting earthling with a flashlight, a can of cashews and a hopeful optimism. Melding influences from jazz, rock and hip-hop – Shuggie Otis, Captain Beefheart, Stereolab, and R. Stevie Moore – she creates a unique blend of experimental galaxy sounds with jazz influenced vocals and keys.

Her new album “Akousmatikous” (Ah-coooz-mat-e-koi) features collaborations with Brijean (Ghostly International) and Soccer96 (a project from The Comet is Coming’s Danalogue and Betamax). It will be released on 19th May 2023 with SRJL’s headline North American tour kicking off the following week incorporating ten shows including Elsewhere NYC and Zebulon LA. Summer 2023 festival appearances include Green Man, We Out Here and Womad (UK).

The new album follows recent collaborations with Toro y Moi, Alice Phoebe Lou on her Strongboi project, a remix for Brainfeeder labelmates Hiatus Kaiyote, and writing credits on ‘Scapegoat’ from GRAMMY-winning rapper Baby Keem's acclaimed debut album.

Lindsay has also had the honor of touring with Flying Lotus, The Cinematic Orchestra, Toro y Moi, TuneYards, Clairo, MNDSGN, Homeshake, The Comet is Coming and Still Woozy.

Akousmatikous/Akousmatikoi (or acousmatic) translates to “sound where there is no identifiable source”. The Akousmatikoi were a sect of Pythagorean mystics from the 5th century BC that were called the “listeners” as opposed to the Mathematikoi sect that were called the “learners”. The Akousmatikoi focused on ritual, harmony, and ethical behavior. “I am enamored with the concept of listening to a sound when we don’t know the source,” says Lindsay. “The act of listening in this great expanse of the universe, for answers, for questions, or just for something undefinable that we seek.” 

The former climate scientist signed with Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label to release “Zdenka 2080” (2019) and “Chapters of Zdenka” (2020). Both collections were packed with short bursts of experimental pop, abstract beats and bedroom R&B songs connected by a sci-fi narrative describing a future dystopian Earth in the year 2080 that has been mis-managed by unethical governments and corporations. The Line of Best Fit proclaimed “Zdenka 2080” “disorientating and fascinating” whilst Bandcamp described “a sweet journey into a world of pure imagination” and charted it in their Best Albums of 2019. The album was also nominated for Album of the Year 2019 at Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards.

“Akousmatikous” is the narrative sequel to “Zdenka 2080”:

After the metropolis spaceship crashes into earth at the end of “Zdenka 2080”, there is a dimensional collapse. As a result, the earthlings have their heads and hands transformed into screens, which is where we begin the new album. The earthlings get stuck in a never ending video feedback loop between their heads and their hands. An interdimensional being, Zeeanori, is manipulating this feedback loop because he wants the plants to reclaim Earth and for nature to be flourishing and healthy again. An old friend and past love of his, Akousmatikous (from a distant planet), comes to earth to speak to him, curious about his motives and the complicated ethics of the situation. Akousmatikous agrees that nature will be beautiful and flourish, but is concerned for the fate of the earthlings trapped in infinite feedback loops. Akousmatikous hopes for a solution that can be beneficial for every being and entity, a path toward symbiosis.  

The title track ‘Akousmatikous (feat. Soccer96)’ is blessed with a stunning animated video directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Carlos López Estrada (Disney, MARVEL). 

As on previous releases, Olsen primarily worked alone to write, record, produce and mix this record on her beloved Roland MV-8800 music workstation, but did venture out of her comfort zone to bring in some of her favorite musicians: Soccer96, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Juuwah, Brijean, Sergio Machado Plim, Danalogue, Jason Lindner, Dakim and Dan Nicholls. “I am a very introverted producer which has sometimes hindered me from pursuing collaborations in the past as I am shy to work with others in person,” explains Lindsay. “Having the opportunity to collaborate via the internet was a wonderful experience and led to some beautiful connections and new friendships.”

The album artwork is by award winning designer and filmmaker Winston Hacking – best known for his collaborations with Flying Lotus, Run The Jewels, Animal Collective, Andy Shauf and BADBADNOTGOOD. His passion lies in conjuring hybrid works that are equal parts contemporary collage and early cinematic illusion.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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John Patitucci Trio feat. Yotam Silberstein & Rogerio Boccato - SOLD OUT!
Mar
2

John Patitucci Trio feat. Yotam Silberstein & Rogerio Boccato - SOLD OUT!


John Patitucci was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1959 and began playing the electric bass at age ten. He began performing and composing at age 12, at age 15 began to play the acoustic bass, and then started the piano at age 16. He quickly moved from playing soul and rock to blues, jazz and classical music. His eclectic tastes caused him to explore all types of music as a player and a composer.

John studied classical bass at San Francisco State University and Long Beach State University. In 1980, he continued his career in Los Angeles as a studio musician and a jazz artist. As a studio musician, John has played on countless albums with artists such as B. B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, George Benson, Dizzy Gillespie, Was Not Was, Dave Grusin, Natalie Cole, Bon Jovi, Sting, Queen Latifah and Carly Simon. In 1986, John was voted by his peers in the studios as the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences MVP on Acoustic Bass.

As a performer, John has played throughout the world with his own band and with jazz luminaries Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Stan Getz, Pat Metheny, Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Michael Brecker, McCoy Tyner, Nancy Wilson, Randy Brecker, Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams, Hubert Laws, Hank Jones, Mulgrew Miller, James Williams, Kenny Werner and scores of others. Some of the many pop and Brazilian artists he has played with include Sting, Aaron Neville, Natalie Cole, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Milton Nascimiento, Astrud and Joao Gilberto, Airto and Flora Purim, Ivan Lins, Joao Bosco and Dori Caymmi.

John has also worked with film composers Jerry Goldsmith, Ry Cooder, James Newton Howard, Dave Grusin, Henry Mancini, John Williams, Mark Isham, Michel Colombier, Carter Burwell and Howard Shore and many others.

Since 1985, his association with Chick Corea has brought him worldwide acclaim and put him at the forefront of the jazz world. His many recordings with Chick Corea’s Elektric Band and Akoustic Band, his six solo recordings for GRP Records and his subsequent recordings have brought him two Grammy Awards (one for playing and one for composing) and over fifteen Grammy nominations. In addition, his first solo recording, John Patitucci, went to number one on the Billboard Jazz charts. John arranged and produced all of his own records as well as those of other artists. In 1996, he signed with Concord Jazz and released seven records on their label: One More Angel; Now; Imprint; Communion; Songs, Stories and Spirituals; Line by Line; and Remembrance. Two of those releases were nominated for Grammy Awards in the composition category.

After exploring many different writing styles on his own records and those of Chick Corea’s, John continued to compose for many mediums. In 1994 he was commissioned to write a piece for six-string electric bass and string orchestra for the Italian chamber orchestra Suono e Oltre in Pescara, Italy. With John as soloist, the piece was performed in March 1995 in Italy and in August 1995 with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo. John has also been commissioned to write pieces for the Turtle Island String Quartet, violist Lawrence Dutton of the Emerson String Quartet, classical piano virtuoso Ann Schein, and the string quartet Elements, among others. John has had several premieres of his other chamber music compositions, including at the Chelsea Music Festival in New York in July 2011 and BargeMusic in Brooklyn, also in 2011. In April 2012, John’s piece Fantasy on a River Theme was premiered at Jordan Hall in Boston with John as soloist with the Berklee College of Music Contemporary Symphony Orchestra. John continues to be commissioned as a composer and is a featured performer on many recordings.

In 2000, John began touring again with the legendary Wayne Shorter, and the Wayne Shorter Quartet, featuring Danilo Perez on piano and Brian Blade on drums, has received worldwide acclaim for its performances and recordings. Their live recording Footprints Live was nominated for a Grammy in 2001 and a studio recording, Alegria, won a Grammy in 2003. Another CD, Beyond the Sound Barrier, won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Jazz Album in 2005. In 2006, the Quartet won the 2006 Jazz Journalists Award for Best Small Ensemble. The quartet continues to tour extensively around the world to rave reviews.

When John is not touring with his own band or the Wayne Shorter Quartet, he has found time to perform in other ensembles, such as the an all-star quintet Directions in Music, in 2001, which was led by Herbie Hancock and featured the late Michael Brecker on saxophone and Roy Hargrove on trumpet and Brian Blade on drums. They released a subsequent live CD entitled Live at Massey Hall, which also won a Grammy award.

British composer Mark Anthony Turnage and John collaborated on three large projects in 2007 and subsequently. The first is a piece entitled About Water, which featured John as one of several soloists with the London Sinfonietta in celebration of the reopening of the Southbank Centre in London. Mark wrote a composition for John as soloist on both acoustic and electric basses with string orchestra entitled A Prayer Out of Stillness. John performed this piece with the London Symphony Orchestra, orchestras in Scotland, Estonia and Norway and with the St. Louis Symphony under the direction of David Robertson. John has also performed on a Turnage piece entitled Scorched with guitarist John Scofield and drummer Peter Erskine, which features the music of John Scofield.

In 2009, John released his recording Remembrance, which features saxophone genius Joe Lovano and drum virtuoso Brian Blade and received rousing reviews. Remembrance was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album of 2009. The trio enjoyed highly acclaimed and well-received performances at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York and the Monterey Jazz Festival in California, among others.

In 2015, John released his fourteenth solo recording, Brooklyn, on his own label, Three Faces Records. The recording features his latest band, “The John Patitucci Electric Guitar Quartet”, with Adam Rogers and Steve Cardenas on electric guitars, Brian Blade on bass and John playing electric basses exclusively. A documentary filmed by August Sky Films was just released in early 2016 and combines performance footage, behind the scenes footage of rehearsals and the recording of Brooklyn. The film also takes a look at John’s early years in Brooklyn, his music career and his home life through candid interviews with family and musicians, including Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Wayne Shorter.

In 2015, John, Danilo Perez and Brian Blade released their first recording, Children of the Light, which is also the name of their new trio. Children of the Light toured extensively in 2015, 2016 and beyond.

John has always felt a call to mentor and teach young musicians and to help further and sustain the art of jazz and bass playing around the world. In 2002, following the retirement of Ron Carter, John began teaching at The City College of New York and was a Professor of Jazz Studies there for ten years. He has also been involved with the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program in Washington, D.C. and the The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. John is a frequent clinician and guest lecturer at schools around the world and a regular featured performer at the International Society of Bassists conventions. In 2010, John began his involvement with the Berklee College of Music’s Global Jazz Institute, spearheaded by pianist Danilo Perez. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at Berklee, teaching in both the Global Jazz Institute and the Bass Department.

John currently resides in New York with his wife Sachi, a cellist, and their two daughters.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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Louis Cole ft. Nate Wood, Chris Fishman, Genevieve Artadi with special guest Salami Rose Joe Louis
Mar
2

Louis Cole ft. Nate Wood, Chris Fishman, Genevieve Artadi with special guest Salami Rose Joe Louis


Louis Cole is a Los Angeles based singer songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalists. Celebrated as one of the world’s most future-sonic-funk drummers and co-founder of KNOWER, his mission is “to create deep feelings through music.” Cole has proudly been DIY to date, amassing millions of views with his viral videos like ‘Bank Account’, and arrives with his third album debut ‘Time’ out now on Brainfeeder.

‘Time’ is – a casual but addictive LP, with a blend of quickfire, hook-laden electro-funk bullets and wistful, soft-focus balladry – and it’s compelling. “A lot of it is little thoughts, that I made into big songs… blasts of inspiration that I was lucky enough to receive.”

Louis’s new album features his friend Thundercat (with whom he worked on “Drunk” co-writing ‘Bus In The Streets’ and ‘Jameel’s Space Ride’) who returns the favour, contributing lead vocals on ‘Tunnels In The Air’. KNOWER’s Genevieve Artadi, and acclaimed jazz pianist and experimental composer Brad Mehldau also pop up on ‘When You’re Ugly’ and ‘Real Life’ respectively. Furthermore, ‘Last Time You Went Away’ features a 23-piece string orchestra – the Rochester Stringz from Eastman School of Music.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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Caroline Davis’ Alula (Early Show)
Mar
2

Caroline Davis’ Alula (Early Show)


Early Show | Doors: 7PM | Show: 8PM

Caroline Davis created the band, Alula, to seek out electronic components in her performances and compositions. On their first album, released in 2019 on New Amsterdam Records, the trio included synthesizer contributions from Matt Mitchell (Linda Oh, Dave Douglas, Tim Berne, Fiction) and the drum and percussion voice of Greg Saunier (Deerhoof, Dal Niente, Mystical Weapons). Davis’ first compositions arose after a stimulating read of The Sibley Guide to Birds, where she learned about “...this magical structure on bird wings that appeared during moments of take off, flight, and landing” was immediately drawn to it. Of her first release, The New York Times remarked, "you can hear Ms. Davis's talent for deriving long, dizzying motifs from smaller melodic cells." A forthcoming album will present a similar balance of improvised and composed material amongst electronic samples from freedom fighters held in captivity for wrongful convictions. Alula’s current lineup features Chris Tordini (bass) and Eliza Salem (drums).

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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Melanie Charles (Late Show)
Mar
1

Melanie Charles (Late Show)


Late Show | Doors: 11PM | Show: 11:55PM

There are very few artists whose sound can capture the sentiments of a generation. The Brooklyn born and raised, Melanie Charles, is one of these artists. Over the past few decades, she has made a name for herself through dynamic engagements with jazz, soul, and R&B. Her bold genre-bending style has been embraced by a range of artists including Wynton Marsalis, SZA, Mach-Hommy, Gorillaz, and The Roots. In 2021, she appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk and stunned with her eclectic style. Through it all, she has remained committed to making music that pushes listeners to consider new possibilities—both sonically and politically. “Make Jazz Trill  Again,” a project that she launched in 2016, demonstrates her allegiance to everyday people, especially the youth and is focused on taking jazz from the museum to the streets. “I love jazz, I really fell in love with it deeply. But I was interested in young people interacting with it,” Charles says. The album Y’all Don’t (Really) Care About Black Women is reflective of Charles’ tremendous versatility and imagination as an artist but of also her deep care for community. 

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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Yotam Silberstein with John Patitucci and Joe La Barbera (Late Show)
Mar
1

Yotam Silberstein with John Patitucci and Joe La Barbera (Late Show)


Yotam Silberstein with John Patitucci and Joe La Barbera

Yotam Silberstein

Yotam Silberstein, one of the leading jazz guitarists of his generation, has gained acclaim for a sound rich in bebop and blues as well as musical folklore from South America, North Africa and the Middle East, giving his music an increasingly global thrust. His mature compositional gift and gripping interpretive finesse are vividly represented on his 2022 release Universos and his 2020 outing with Argentine multi-instrumentalist and composer Carlos “Negro” Aguirre titled En el jardín. He is a member of the John Patitucci Trio (heard on the acclaimed album Irmãos de Fé), has toured extensively with legendary Brazilian singer-songwriter Ivan Lins, and played with characteristic fire and taste on Monty Alexander’s GRAMMY-nominated Harlem-Kingston Express Live! as well as David Sanborn & Marcus Miller’s Time and the River. He has worked in bands with some of the greatest figures in jazz including George Coleman, Charles McPherson, Jimmy Heath, James Moody and Roy Hargrove, and has toured with his own groups all over the world in the most prestigious festivals and venues including the Tokyo, Umbria and North Sea Jazz Festivals as well as Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center and more.

Born in Tel Aviv and based in New York, Yotam was discovered at a young age by the great James Moody. He has evolved into a highly influential artist of his day, hailed by JazzTimes for a musical output “struck through with passion and intimacy,” and by The New York Times as a player who “improvises in a cutting tone and writes heady original tunes that seem to tug the straight-ahead jazz tradition in new directions.” Fueled by a deep love of the jazz lineage and a joyful immersion in choro, samba, frevo, tango and other idioms, he approaches his wide-ranging influences with a near-anthropological meticulousness, conveying a sense not just of technical knowledge but also rich lived experience.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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Sudan Archives with special guests Melanie Charles and Bad Snacks
Mar
1

Sudan Archives with special guests Melanie Charles and Bad Snacks


Sudan Archives contains multitudes. She first emerged as an avant-garde violinist who channeled her playing through loop pedals. But she’s also much more than that: lovelorn songwriter, powerful vocal performer, and experimental beatmaker. She’s captivated audiences at festivals around the world with her hybrid sound, playing at Coachella, Pitchfork Midwinter, and FORM: Arcosanti, and sharing stages with St Vincent, Ibeyi, and Michael Kiwanuka while touring her trail-blazing EPs Sudan Archives (2017) and Sink (2018). Sudan’s many identities truly coalesce in her debut album, Athena: a psychedelic, magnetic take on modern R&B that’s unlike anything else you’ve heard.

“When I was a little girl, I thought I could rule the world,” Sudan Archives announces in the sparse, string-plucked opening bars of Athena, on the strident “Did You Know”. Her musicality and sense of self-belief developed as a young child in the church. Born Brittney Parks, but called Sudan from a young age, she moved around Cincinnati, Ohio many times as a child; religion and music were the most stable forces in her life. It was in church that Sudan began learning to play the violin by ear, participating in ensemble performances. “I remember begging my mom to get me a violin,” she says. “From there I just never let it go – it felt like I had a purpose.”

Growing up with a twin sister, Sudan also learned young that she was the “bad twin”. Her stepdad – a one-time music industry executive – tried to turn the two into a pop duo when they were teenagers, but Sudan would miss rehearsals and curfew so frequently that the project was abandoned. Still, the experience was valuable: “My stepdad basically planted this whole idea of artistry as a career,” she remembers. Though she left the band behind, Sudan clung to the idea of pursuing music when she moved to LA aged 19. While studying and holding down two jobs, she would spend her spare time “fucking around with some beats and making some weird shit”, which she released tentatively under the name Sudan Moon – a combination of her childhood nickname and her love of Sailor Moon. The ethereal quality of those early lo-fi, G-funk-inspired beats would eventually make its way into Sudan’s current sound.

It was once she discovered ethnomusicology, and learned to incorporate the violin into her beats, that she really unlocked a new level. Cameroonian electronic music pioneer Francis Bebey was an early inspiration: “His music is so simple, and the way he combines strings and electronic music is such a vibe.” From there, she educated herself about other artists and ethnomusicologists, learning about the history of one-string fiddling in Ghana, Sudan, and all over the world, which “blew my mind”. Now a fervent crate-digger with ambitions of studying ethnomusicology, she changed her artist name to Sudan Archives.

After she met with Stones Throw A&R and Leaving Records founder Matthewdavid at Low End Theory, Peanut Butter Wolf signed her to Stones Throw. Her self-titled debut EP introduced the world to Sudan’s fusion of North African-style fiddling, layered R&B harmonies, and pared-back production. Propelled by the anthem “Come Meh Way”, she quickly gained so much traction (with adulations from the New York Times and NPR) that she left school to focus on her career. Her second EP Sink was a resounding six-track statement that, according to Jenn Pelly at Pitchfork, saw Sudan “level up as a songwriter” — especially true of the bold self-love song “Nont For Sale”.

Those EPs, Sudan says, were “like a haiku of what the album is”. Athena is “more in your face, more confrontational – and that’s also how I’ve grown as an artist. I used to be a hermit who would make beats in her bedroom, but now I’m working with other writers, producers, and instrumentalists, I’ve learned how to communicate. It feels like I’m almost back in church.” At first, it was tough for Sudan to cede any control in her creative process, but as she got stuck into the sessions with producers Wilma Archer (Jessie Ware, Nilufer Yanya), Washed Out, Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Sampha, King Krule), and Paul White (Danny Brown, Charli XCX), she opened up. The resulting album, whittled down to 12 taut tracks from around 60, is her most ambitious work yet.

Athena is about duality. Its lyrics move between tenderness and strength, “like a battle within myself”. On the gauzy whisper of “Black Vivaldi Sonata”, Sudan grapples with questions of right and wrong, invoking the relationship between God and the devil. Elsewhere, duality comes in the form of relationship conflict, a lot of which went into this album, as Sudan coped with both a break-up and with her twin sister moving to LA after years of separation. “It’s weird, your twin coming to live in the same city,” says Sudan. “You kind of feel complete. But because you have these two sisters in the same city, their differences are so vivid. You can figure out yourself more by seeing that. It was some weird yin/yang shit.”

The biggest sense of duality that Sudan was working through was the divide between how she perceives herself, and how others perceive her. She nods to her pet snake as a “visual theme” for the record: “He’s so sweet and cute, and he doesn’t want to hurt anybody, but everyone is afraid of him. I deal with that – men have told me, ‘You look intimidating’. Or someone will be like, ‘Smile!’ But I’m totally non-intimidating when you get to know me, I’m actually shy.”

On the orchestral sweep of Athena’s lead single “Confessions”, Sudan announces over a sharply percussive violin riff: ”There is a place that I call home, but it’s not where I am welcome”. “It’s about my journey from Cincinnati to LA, knowing you’re different, and embracing it,” Sudan explains. “All your imperfections, everything: putting it all out on the table.” Throughout Athena, she flips R&B harmonies and grooves into narratives of the glorious misfit. On the soaring choruses of “Coming Up” and “Limitless”, Sudan provides uplifting messages for other young women who feel isolated. “I’m talking about girls in emotionally abusive relationships. What I wanted to say is: know your power.”

On the album’s cover, she poses as a Greek goddess sculpted in bronze. Simultaneously at her most powerful — channeling the energy of her princess warrior heroes Xena and Sailor Moon — and her most vulnerable, Sudan challenges the viewer to see what’s under the surface. “I’m naked!” she says. “I don’t have anything to hide at all, it’s all out there.” She even remembers momentarily breaking down in the studio while recording the tender break-up ballad “Iceland Moss” (”You think I’m soft, like Iceland moss”).

The album’s emotional heart beats through “Glorious”, one of Sudan’s personal favorites. Backed by a marching beat and blown-out bassline, Sudan layers her voice into a melodic army, before being joined for a rousing verse from Cincinnati rapper D-Eight. “It’s like a resolution,” she says. “I’ve gone through all these conflicts, I’ve dealt with myself, I’ve questioned what’s right and wrong, but at the end of the day, it’s about growing your craft, taking care of your family. It’s about just taking whatever’s happening, and cranking it to the max.”

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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Yotam Silberstein with John Patitucci and Joe La Barbera (Early Show) - SOLD OUT!
Mar
1

Yotam Silberstein with John Patitucci and Joe La Barbera (Early Show) - SOLD OUT!


Yotam Silberstein with John Patitucci and Joe La Barbera

Yotam Silberstein

Yotam Silberstein, one of the leading jazz guitarists of his generation, has gained acclaim for a sound rich in bebop and blues as well as musical folklore from South America, North Africa and the Middle East, giving his music an increasingly global thrust. His mature compositional gift and gripping interpretive finesse are vividly represented on his 2022 release Universos and his 2020 outing with Argentine multi-instrumentalist and composer Carlos “Negro” Aguirre titled En el jardín. He is a member of the John Patitucci Trio (heard on the acclaimed album Irmãos de Fé), has toured extensively with legendary Brazilian singer-songwriter Ivan Lins, and played with characteristic fire and taste on Monty Alexander’s GRAMMY-nominated Harlem-Kingston Express Live! as well as David Sanborn & Marcus Miller’s Time and the River. He has worked in bands with some of the greatest figures in jazz including George Coleman, Charles McPherson, Jimmy Heath, James Moody and Roy Hargrove, and has toured with his own groups all over the world in the most prestigious festivals and venues including the Tokyo, Umbria and North Sea Jazz Festivals as well as Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center and more.

Born in Tel Aviv and based in New York, Yotam was discovered at a young age by the great James Moody. He has evolved into a highly influential artist of his day, hailed by JazzTimes for a musical output “struck through with passion and intimacy,” and by The New York Times as a player who “improvises in a cutting tone and writes heady original tunes that seem to tug the straight-ahead jazz tradition in new directions.” Fueled by a deep love of the jazz lineage and a joyful immersion in choro, samba, frevo, tango and other idioms, he approaches his wide-ranging influences with a near-anthropological meticulousness, conveying a sense not just of technical knowledge but also rich lived experience.

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Dianne Reeves with special guest Lo Steele
Feb
29

Dianne Reeves with special guest Lo Steele


Five-time Grammy winner DIANNE REEVES is the pre-eminent jazz vocalist in the world. As a result of her breathtaking virtuosity, improvisational prowess, and unique jazz and R&B stylings, Reeves received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings – a Grammy first in any vocal category.

Featured in George Clooney’s six-time Academy Award-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck, Reeves won the Best Jazz Vocal Grammy for the film's soundtrack. 

Reeves has recorded and performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. She has also recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim and was a featured soloist with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. Reeves was the first Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the first vocalist to ever perform at the famed Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Reeves worked with legendary producer Arif Mardin (Norah Jones, Aretha Franklin) on the Grammy-winning A Little Moonlight, an intimate collection of standards featuring her touring trio. When Reeves’ holiday collection Christmas Time is Here was released, Ben Ratliff of The New York Times raved, “Ms. Reeves, a jazz singer of frequently astonishing skill, takes the assignment seriously; this is one of the best jazz Christmas CD's I've heard.”

In recent years Reeves has toured the world in a variety of contexts including “Sing the Truth,” a musical celebration of Nina Simone which also featured Lizz Wright and Angelique Kidjo. She performed at the White House on multiple occasions including President Obama's State Dinner for the President of China as well as the Governors’ Ball. 

Reeves’ most recent release Beautiful Life, features Gregory Porter, Robert Glasper, Lalah Hathaway and Esperanza Spalding. Produced by Terri Lyne Carrington, Beautiful Life won the 2015 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. Reeves is the recipient of honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music and the Juilliard School.  In 2018 the National Endowment for the Arts designated Reeves a Jazz Master — the highest honor the United States bestows on jazz artists. 

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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Julian Lage Trio at Town Hall Seattle featuring Joey Baron & Jorge Roeder
Feb
29

Julian Lage Trio at Town Hall Seattle featuring Joey Baron & Jorge Roeder


Hailed as one of the most prodigious guitarists of his generation and “highest category of improvising musicians” (New Yorker), Julian Lage has spent more than a decade searching through the myriad strains of American musical history via impeccable technique, free association and a spirit of infinite possibility. The California-born New York-based musician boasts a prolific resume on his own accord in addition to collaborating with Gary Burton and John Zorn, as well as duo projects with Nels Cline, Chris Eldridge and Fred Hersch, among others. As Lage set out to record his debut for Blue Note Records, the virtuoso guitarist reflected on the label’s storied history and the way his own music connected with it. The result is Squint (released June 2021), a striking new album that weds incisive, expressive songwriting with the profound interplay Lage has honed over the past few years with his deft trio featuring bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King.

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2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival: Free Community Event with Stephan Crump
Feb
29

2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival: Free Community Event with Stephan Crump

 

Admission is FREE but seats are limited. Reserve your tickets to the show!


PDX Jazz is excited to announce a FREE community event with Stephan Crump.

Memphis-bred, Grammy-nominated bassist/composer Stephan Crump is an active bandleader with fifteen critically-acclaimed album releases and numerous film scoring contributions. Stephan’s solo performance, which explores his unique musical language through an expansive range of sonorities on the acoustic bass, is a culmination of decades of work as a bassist, composer, and improviser. From his home studio in Brooklyn, Crump released monthly solo recordings from 2020 into 2021 for a fan-supported series via his Bandcamp page. The new album, Rocket Love, is curated from this body of work. 

Known for transforming his instrument into a speaking entity of magnetic pull, Crump's focus on creative instrumental music has led to collaborations with many of the leading lights of his generation, most notably Vijay Iyer, in whose trio and sextet he played a dynamic, founding role. Stephan can also be heard as long-standing member of Jen Chapin Trio, Ches Smith Trio, Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet, Liberty Ellman Sextet, Secret Keeper (duo with Mary Halvorson), his own Rosetta Trio (with Jamie Fox, Liberty Ellman), his Rhombal quartet (with Ellery Eskelin, Adam O’Farrill, Tyshawn Sorey), Borderlands Trio (with Kris Davis, Eric McPherson) as well as co-led ensembles with Ingrid Laubrock, Cory Smythe, Mat Maneri, and Okkyung Lee.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz.

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2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival: Free Community Event with KMHD’s Bryson Wallace DJ Set
Feb
29

2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival: Free Community Event with KMHD’s Bryson Wallace DJ Set

  • Multnomah Whiskey Library - The Green Room (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival features two special evenings at the Multnomah Whiskey Library - The Green Room, on February 22 and 29 from 8pm to 10pm. This free community event, part of the larger festival presented by PDX Jazz, showcases the talents of Bryson Wallace from KMHD. His unique mix of classic and contemporary jazz is a perfect fit for the inviting atmosphere of the Whiskey Library, ensuring a memorable experience for all. The festival itself is a celebration of jazz music, bringing together diverse artists and styles to create a vibrant musical tapestry in Portland. Don't miss out on these nights of great music and community spirit at one of the city's most unique venues! 

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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Mel Brown b3 Organ Group (Early Show) - SOLD OUT!
Feb
29

Mel Brown b3 Organ Group (Early Show) - SOLD OUT!


Early Show | Doors: 7PM | Show: 8PM

"If this band appeared in New York City, they'd be a sensation!" That was guitar great--and one-time Mel Brown bandmate--George Benson's reaction after hearing the Mel Brown B-3 Organ Group open for him back in September, 2003 at Oregon's prestigious Britt Festival. 

In fact, this true all-star band--each member is widely viewed as tops in the Northwest on his instrument--has been a sensation for a long while now. With a collective resume that reads like a "Who's Who" of jazz, blues, and soul (all four members are Oregon Music Hall of Fame inductees), this group has the talent and confidence to be completely spontaneous--from their blistering solos to their improvised arrangements and segues. No wonder they've thrilled audiences wherever they've played.

Those venues have included Portland's top jazz club, Jimmy Mak's (every Thursday night for the entire 20-year run of that legendary jazz venue), the Jack London Revue (the band's Thursday night home since 2017), the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, The Britt Festival, The Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, the Rose City Festival, the Bite Of Oregon, The Port Townsend Jazz Festival, Jazz in the Valley, the Newport, OR Jazz Festival, Jazz at the Oxford, the Montavilla Jazz Festival, and many more. 

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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Theo Croker + Kassa Overall
Feb
29

Theo Croker + Kassa Overall

 

This event is a co-bill show and part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

Doors: 6:30 PM
’Jazz Conversation’ with Ashley Kahn: 7:00 PM (show ticket required)
Show: 8:00 PM

Available exclusively to ticket holders of this show, there will be a 'Jazz Conversation,' hosted by Grammy-winning Jazz historian Ashley Kahn, featuring Theo & Kassa. Doors will open at 6:30pm and the conversation + Q&A will begin at 7pm, with the show starting thereafter. Dont miss it!


Theo Croker

Theo Croker is a storyteller who speaks through his trumpet. A GRAMMY Award-nominated artist, composer, producer, thought leader, and influencer, he is a creative who rejects boundaries and lets his voice ring through the music.

After seven years living in Shanghai, Croker's seething original sound crash-landed on 2014's Dee Dee Bridgewater-assisted album "Afro Physicist." Following the success of 2016's "Escape Velocity," he soared into a new stratosphere in 2019 with "Star People Nation." The album received a nomination in the "Best Contemporary Instrumental Album'' category at the 62nd GRAMMY Awards. The New York Times called it "an album that ranges from swirling hip-hop beats to driving swing to ravishing passages of African percussion."

Through it all, Croker's unobtrusive trumpet playing holds his small band together with verve and poise. Along the way, he's also lent his sound to platinum-selling albums from J. Cole to Ari Lennox and toured the globe many times with his band. In 2020, amid the global pandemic, he retreated to his childhood home and wrote his sixth full-length album, "BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST" [Sony Music Masterworks].

BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST is a contemporary oratorio inspired by the forgotten hero's journey through the universal origins of being black. On the album, Theo unpacks moments of heroism, trials, suffering, awakening and apotheosis in a musical pastiche brought to life by a host of other cultural renegades and held together by his playing. Traditions of the past, foundations of the present and explorations of the future. A sonic celebration & reclamation of Afro origins.

Kassa Overall

Kassa Overall is a Grammy-nominated musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and rap in unmapped directions. He previously released four critically acclaimed projects: I THINK I’M GOOD, Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz, Shades of Flu and Shades of Flu 2.

On ANIMALS, his Warp Records debut, Kassa pushes his kaleidoscopic, subversive vision further. He layers Roland 808s against avant-garde drumming in the vein of his mentors Elvin Jones and Billy Hart, the latter of whom he studied with at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Virtuoso musos appear alongside rap poets, including Danny Brown, Wiki, Lil B, and Shabazz Palaces. Top-flight jazz improvisation weaves in and out of orchestral string arrangements by Jherek Bischoff. The album’s diverse, all-star roster of collaborators includes several of his close friends, like vocalists Nick Hakim, Laura Mvula, Francis and the Lights, and jazz stars like Theo Croker and Vijay Iyer.

ANIMALS pushes Kassa’s message further too, the title a loaded metaphor for the paradoxes of his life as an entertainer and as a black man in America. ANIMALS is the sound of an artist aware of the cost of embodying one’s natural self in the public eye, a deep reckoning with the two-sided truth that to perform one’s freedom for an audience can mean succumbing to life inside a cage.

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Dianne Reeves at Town Hall Seattle
Feb
28

Dianne Reeves at Town Hall Seattle


Five-time Grammy winner DIANNE REEVES is the pre-eminent jazz vocalist in the world. As a result of her breathtaking virtuosity, improvisational prowess, and unique jazz and R&B stylings, Reeves received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings – a Grammy first in any vocal category.

Featured in George Clooney’s six-time Academy Award-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck, Reeves won the Best Jazz Vocal Grammy for the film's soundtrack. 

Reeves has recorded and performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. She has also recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim and was a featured soloist with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. Reeves was the first Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the first vocalist to ever perform at the famed Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Reeves worked with legendary producer Arif Mardin (Norah Jones, Aretha Franklin) on the Grammy-winning A Little Moonlight, an intimate collection of standards featuring her touring trio. When Reeves’ holiday collection Christmas Time is Here was released, Ben Ratliff of The New York Times raved, “Ms. Reeves, a jazz singer of frequently astonishing skill, takes the assignment seriously; this is one of the best jazz Christmas CD's I've heard.”

In recent years Reeves has toured the world in a variety of contexts including “Sing the Truth,” a musical celebration of Nina Simone which also featured Lizz Wright and Angelique Kidjo. She performed at the White House on multiple occasions including President Obama's State Dinner for the President of China as well as the Governors’ Ball. 

Reeves’ most recent release Beautiful Life, features Gregory Porter, Robert Glasper, Lalah Hathaway and Esperanza Spalding. Produced by Terri Lyne Carrington, Beautiful Life won the 2015 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. Reeves is the recipient of honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music and the Juilliard School.  In 2018 the National Endowment for the Arts designated Reeves a Jazz Master — the highest honor the United States bestows on jazz artists. 

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Kassa Overall + Theo Croker Seattle
Feb
28

Kassa Overall + Theo Croker Seattle

This is a co-bill show!


Kassa Overall

Kassa Overall is a Grammy-nominated musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and rap in unmapped directions. He previously released four critically acclaimed projects: I THINK I’M GOOD, Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz, Shades of Flu and Shades of Flu 2.

On ANIMALS, his Warp Records debut, Kassa pushes his kaleidoscopic, subversive vision further. He layers Roland 808s against avant-garde drumming in the vein of his mentors Elvin Jones and Billy Hart, the latter of whom he studied with at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Virtuoso musos appear alongside rap poets, including Danny Brown, Wiki, Lil B, and Shabazz Palaces. Top-flight jazz improvisation weaves in and out of orchestral string arrangements by Jherek Bischoff. The album’s diverse, all-star roster of collaborators includes several of his close friends, like vocalists Nick Hakim, Laura Mvula, Francis and the Lights, and jazz stars like Theo Croker and Vijay Iyer.

ANIMALS pushes Kassa’s message further too, the title a loaded metaphor for the paradoxes of his life as an entertainer and as a black man in America. ANIMALS is the sound of an artist aware of the cost of embodying one’s natural self in the public eye, a deep reckoning with the two-sided truth that to perform one’s freedom for an audience can mean succumbing to life inside a cage.

Theo Croker

Theo Croker is a storyteller who speaks through his trumpet. A GRAMMY Award-nominated artist, composer, producer, thought leader, and influencer, he is a creative who rejects boundaries and lets his voice ring through the music.

After seven years living in Shanghai, Croker's seething original sound crash-landed on 2014's Dee Dee Bridgewater-assisted album "Afro Physicist." Following the success of 2016's "Escape Velocity," he soared into a new stratosphere in 2019 with "Star People Nation." The album received a nomination in the "Best Contemporary Instrumental Album'' category at the 62nd GRAMMY Awards. The New York Times called it "an album that ranges from swirling hip-hop beats to driving swing to ravishing passages of African percussion."

Through it all, Croker's unobtrusive trumpet playing holds his small band together with verve and poise. Along the way, he's also lent his sound to platinum-selling albums from J. Cole to Ari Lennox and toured the globe many times with his band. In 2020, amid the global pandemic, he retreated to his childhood home and wrote his sixth full-length album, "BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST" [Sony Music Masterworks].

BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST is a contemporary oratorio inspired by the forgotten hero's journey through the universal origins of being black. On the album, Theo unpacks moments of heroism, trials, suffering, awakening and apotheosis in a musical pastiche brought to life by a host of other cultural renegades and held together by his playing. Traditions of the past, foundations of the present and explorations of the future. A sonic celebration & reclamation of Afro origins.

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Corey Harris and Cedric Watson
Feb
28

Corey Harris and Cedric Watson


Corey Harris

With one foot in tradition and the other in contemporary experimentation, Corey Harris has earned critical acclaim as one of the few modern-day bluesmen able to channel the raw, direct emotion of acoustic Delta blues without coming off as an authenticity-obsessed historian. Along with Keb’ Mo’ and Alvin Youngblood Hart, Harris raised the flag of acoustic guitar blues in the mid-1990s. Although well-versed in the early history of blues guitar, he is no well-mannered preservationist, mixing a considerable variety of influences—from New Orleans, the Caribbean, and Africa—into his richly expressive music.

Cedric Watson

One of the brightest young talents to emerge in Cajun, Creole, and zydeco music in the past decade, four-time Grammy nominee Cedric Watson is a fiddler, singer, accordionist, and songwriter with unlimited potential. The San Felipe, Texas, native made his first appearance at the zydeco jam at the Big Easy in Houston at just 19 years old. Just two years later, he moved to south Louisiana and immersed himself in French music. Over the next several years, Watson performed French music in 17 countries and on seven albums with various groups, including his own, Bijou Creole. Watson’s albums are a tapestry of pulsing rhythms and Creole poetry, and his unforgettable live performances are at once progressive and nostalgic.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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Julian Lage Trio featuring Joey Baron & Jorge Roeder with special guest Dan Balmer - SOLD OUT!
Feb
28

Julian Lage Trio featuring Joey Baron & Jorge Roeder with special guest Dan Balmer - SOLD OUT!

 

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

Doors: 6:30pm
Conversation: 7:00pm
Show: 8:15pm 

Ticket purchasers will get exclusive access to 'Jazz Conversations' - hosted by Grammy-winning historian Ashley Kahn and featuring both artists discussing their history and craft, and audience Q&A, starting at 7:00pm in the show room.


Julian Lage

Hailed as one of the most prodigious guitarists of his generation and “highest category of improvising musicians” (New Yorker), Julian Lage has spent more than a decade searching through the myriad strains of American musical history via impeccable technique, free association and a spirit of infinite possibility. The California-born New York-based musician boasts a prolific resume on his own accord in addition to collaborating with Gary Burton and John Zorn, as well as duo projects with Nels Cline, Chris Eldridge and Fred Hersch, among others. As Lage set out to record his debut for Blue Note Records, the virtuoso guitarist reflected on the label’s storied history and the way his own music connected with it. The result is Squint (released June 2021), a striking new album that weds incisive, expressive songwriting with the profound interplay Lage has honed over the past few years with his deft trio featuring bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King.

Dan Balmer

2024 “Portland Jazz Master”
The Portland Jazz Master recognizes a regional artist or other jazz community member for their work and contributions to jazz in the Portland region. The PDX Jazz Programming Committee selects the Portland Jazz Master each year.

From coffee house gigs at fifteen to chart-topping success with the Tom Grant Band in the 90s, world tours with two-time Grammy Award winner Diane Schuur and contemporary jam-bands, Dan Balmer brings fire and heart every time he plays the guitar. His playing spans nearly one hundred CDs including twelve as a leader from which his original works have appeared internationally in television, film and radio.

An in-demand educator, Dan maintains a busy schedule of private lessons, group clinics and master classes throughout the US and abroad. He adjudicates student jazz band competitions at events such as the Monterey Next Generation Festival and Reno Jazz Festival along with being a long-term teacher at the Centrum Jazz Workshop. He is the director of jazz combos at Lewis And Clark College while also on faculty at virtually every other college in the greater Portland, Oregon area.

Dan has performed or toured with Joey DeFrancesco, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Les McCann, Javon Jackson and Karrin Allyson, Benny Golson, Jeff Hamilton, Gerald Clayton, John Clayton, Terell Stafford, Ingrid Jensen, Duduka da Fonseca, Kendrick Scott, Taylor Eigsti, Buddy De Franco, Bruce Forman and countless others.

Dan’s love of guitar and making music combined with discipline, technique and restless curiosity provide an ever-deepening experience for himself and his listeners. In every performance he finds himself in the middle of the path, amidst a continuous and compelling process of discovery.

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Stephan Crump Masterclass
Feb
28

Stephan Crump Masterclass

 

PDX Jazz proudly presents: Stephan Crump Masterclass
Lewis & Clark College, Evans Music Center, Room 122, 4:15 PM - 5:45 PM

Revealing Magnetism - Distillation, Freedom, Development in the Groove

Known for transforming his instrument into a speaking entity of magnetic pull and for collaborations with leading lights of creative instrumental music, Stephan Crump shares his musical philosophy, including a practical approach to discerning the DNA or underlying polarity within various grooves and meters. Useful to musicians of all instruments, this process clarifies fundamental versus ornamental gestures in the line, helping us generate feel in the music and revealing a path toward freedom and development. Stephan will demonstrate how to internalize this polarity on a visceral level, moving beyond the cerebral, counting mode into a more holistic and gestural presence in the music. This allows us to interact and communicate from deeper within ourselves and in terms of shaping energies, lift and landing, tension and release…magnetism.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz.

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2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival Jazz Conversation Series: They Called Him Duke; His Mother Called Him Edward, presentation with Ashley Kahn
Feb
28

2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival Jazz Conversation Series: They Called Him Duke; His Mother Called Him Edward, presentation with Ashley Kahn

  • Portland State University, Lincoln Hall, Room 47 (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

PDX Jazz is excited to announce a FREE Jazz Conversation Series

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington is a cultural giant and a musical pioneer who passed away 50 years ago in 1974. Yet his influence remains pervasive, fresh and ceaslessly modern. But why, and how? How many appreciate that he not only created the music that defined (and even named) the Swing era, but that he elevated Black American music to the level of high art without sacrificing its roots? How many understand that he created a career formula for artistic and economic freedom, or that behind his tailored suits and sophistication, hew was a true revolionary, using music to push for social justce and equality? In an era when being a musician was one of a few ways an African American artist could achieve self-determination, Ellington's entire career was a struggle for civil rights and personal respect. With a generous offering of music, videos and images, we will both examine and question his legend, to truly grasp the enduring stature of Edward "Duke" Ellington. 

Ashley Kahn

Ashley Kahn is a Grammy-winning American music historian, author, professor and producer. He teaches at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music, co-wrote Carlos Santana’s award-winning autobiography The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light (Little, Brown, 2014), and is a producer of Carlos (2023), the documentary on Carlos Santana (Imagine Documentaries/Sony Pictures Classics. He has written books on two legendary recordings: Kind of Blue by Miles Davis and A Love Supreme by John Coltrane, and one on a legendary record label: The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. His most recent book is George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters. He also edited Rolling Stone: The Seventies, a 70-essay overview of that pivotal decade.

Kahn, who was recently awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Jazz Journalists Association, broke into the music business as a tour manager and music festival producer, has held a variety of positions in radio, television, and online businesses. As a journalist, his byline has appeared in many publications and websites, including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The New Statesman, and others, and his writing has garnered four ASCAP/Deems Taylor awards, and three Grammy nominations. In 2015, he was awarded a Grammy for his album notes to the John Coltrane release Offering: Live at Temple University, and in 2017, he received the Robert Palmer-Helen Oakley Dance Award for Excellence in Writing from the Jazz Journalists Association.

Kahn has worked on many music documentaries in a variety of roles: as producer/director—Carlos; Kind of Blue: Made in Heaven for Sony Music (2005)—as a consultant/writer—Netflix’s Chasing Trane 2016) and Stanley Nelson’s documentary on Miles Davis for PBS (2018)—and as on-screen interviewee: PBS’s Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music (2016); BBC’s 1959: The Year That Changed Jazz (2009); and many others.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival Jazz Conversation Series: A Love Supreme, Understanding the Message of John Coltrane, presentation with Ashley Kahn
Feb
28

2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival Jazz Conversation Series: A Love Supreme, Understanding the Message of John Coltrane, presentation with Ashley Kahn

  • University of Portland, Mago Hunt Recital Hall (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

PDX Jazz is excited to announce a FREE Jazz Conversation Series:
A Love Supreme: Understanding The Message of John Coltrane, a multimedia presentation with Ashley Kahn at Mayo Hunt Recital Hall at the University of Portland

Too often, John Coltrane’s towering legend and enduring influence overshadows his message. This presentation employs music and video excerpts -- focusing on his masterful 1964 recording A Love Supreme (marking its 60th anniversary) to better understand the connection between his music and universal message. How did he weave a spiritual focus into his music? What role did Coltrane envision for himself and his recordings? What was his core message, and how does it continue to influence professional musicians — and not just jazz — today?

Ashley Kahn

Ashley Kahn is a Grammy-winning American music historian, author, professor and producer. He teaches at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music, co-wrote Carlos Santana’s award-winning autobiography The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light (Little, Brown, 2014), and is a producer of Carlos (2023), the documentary on Carlos Santana (Imagine Documentaries/Sony Pictures Classics. He has written books on two legendary recordings: Kind of Blue by Miles Davis and A Love Supreme by John Coltrane, and one on a legendary record label: The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. His most recent book is George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters. He also edited Rolling Stone: The Seventies, a 70-essay overview of that pivotal decade.

Kahn, who was recently awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Jazz Journalists Association, broke into the music business as a tour manager and music festival producer, has held a variety of positions in radio, television, and online businesses. As a journalist, his byline has appeared in many publications and websites, including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The New Statesman, and others, and his writing has garnered four ASCAP/Deems Taylor awards, and three Grammy nominations. In 2015, he was awarded a Grammy for his album notes to the John Coltrane release Offering: Live at Temple University, and in 2017, he received the Robert Palmer-Helen Oakley Dance Award for Excellence in Writing from the Jazz Journalists Association.

Kahn has worked on many music documentaries in a variety of roles: as producer/director—Carlos; Kind of Blue: Made in Heaven for Sony Music (2005)—as a consultant/writer—Netflix’s Chasing Trane 2016) and Stanley Nelson’s documentary on Miles Davis for PBS (2018)—and as on-screen interviewee: PBS’s Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music (2016); BBC’s 1959: The Year That Changed Jazz (2009); and many others.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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Sullivan Fortner Trio
Feb
27

Sullivan Fortner Trio


For the past decade, Sullivan Fortner has been stretching deep-rooted talents as a pianist, composer, band leader and uncompromising individualist. The GRAMMY Award-winning artist out of New Orleans received international praise as both key player and producer for his collaborative work on The Window (Mack Avenue, 2018), alongside multi-GRAMMY winner, vocalist-composer Cecile McLorin Salvant. As a solo leader, he has released Moments Preserved (Decca, 2018) and Aria (Impulse!, 2015) to critical acclaim, and he’s only getting started. Now based in New York, Fortner has earned recognition in multiple DownBeat Critics Poll categories, winning first place in Rising Star Piano and Rising Star Jazz Artist. 

In addition to associations with such diverse voices as Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Diane Reeves, Etienne Charles and John Scofield, Fortner’s frequent and longtime collaborators have included Ambrose Akinmusire, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Kassa Overall, Tivon Pennicott, Peter Bernstein, Nicholas Payton, Billy Hart, Gary Bartz, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Fred Hersch and the late Roy Hargrove. Recent collaborations include GRAMMY-nominated releases Dear Love (Empress Legacy) and Generations from leaders Jazzmeia Horn and The Baylor Project, respectively. 

A highly-sought improviser, Fortner has performed across the country and throughout the world at such cultural institutions as Snug Harbor, New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Lorraine’s and The Jazz Playhouse in New Orleans, and Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jazz Standard and Smalls Jazz Club in New York City. He’s appeared at celebrated festivals, including Newport, Monterey, Discover, Tri-C and Gillmore Keyboard, among others. In 2019, Fortner brought his band to the historic Village Vanguard for a week-long engagement he would reprise in 2020 as a virtual performance during lockdown. His notable studio contributions include work on Etienne Charles’s Kaiso (Culture Shock, 2011), Donald Harrison’s Quantum Leap (FOMP, 2010), and Theo Croker’s The Fundamentals (Left Sided Music, 2007). 

Playing solo or leading an orchestra, Fortner engages harmony and rhythmic ideas through curiosity and clarity. Within phrases, he finds universes, and listeners often hear how he’s moved by each note he explores. Coming up in New Orleans, Fortner began playing piano at age 7, following a storied lineage of improvisers, masters of time and every iteration of the blues. He earned his Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory and Master of Music in Jazz Performance from Manhattan School of Music (MSM). A champion of mentorship, Fortner has offered masterclasses at MSM, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), Purdue University, Lafayette Summer Music Workshop, Belmont University and Oberlin Conservatory where he held a faculty position. 

Pulling distinct elements from different eras, Fortner’s artistry preserves the tradition and evolves the sound. He seeks connections among different musical styles that are at once deeply soulful and wildly inventive. Both his works and his insights have been featured in culturally iconic publications, from The New York Times to The Root. Accolades include the 2015 Cole Porter Fellowship awarded by the American Pianists Association, Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship, the 2016 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists and, in 2020, the prestigious Shifting Foundation Grant for artistic career development.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz


This program is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts via the Western Jazz Presenters Network.

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Mary Halvorson & Tomas Fujiwara Duo with special guest Ryan Meagher
Feb
27

Mary Halvorson & Tomas Fujiwara Duo with special guest Ryan Meagher


Drummer Tomas Fujiwara and guitarist Mary Halvorson have been collaborating for eighteen years. They met in New York City in the early 2000's, and first started playing together in cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum's sextet. Since then they have become each other's most frequent collaborators, working together in a myriad of projects led by Michael Formanek, Adam O'Farrill, Matana Roberts, Tomeka Reid, Ben Goldberg and Mike Reed. Fujiwara is also a part of Halvorson's Code Girl and Amaryllis, and Halvorson is a member of Fujiwara's bands Triple Double and The Hook Up. This rare duo performance showcases a project built on years of history and collaboration in a stripped down setting.

Guitarist, composer and MacArthur Fellow Mary Halvorson has been called “NYC’s least-predictable improviser” (Howard Mandel, City Arts), “the most forward-thinking guitarist working right now” (Lars Gotrich, NPR.org) and “one of today’s most formidable bandleaders” (Francis Davis, Village Voice). Halvorson’s most recent releases, Amaryllis and Belladonna, showcase her string quartet writing deftly interpreted by The Mivos Quartet, alongside a new sextet featuring Adam O’Farrill (trumpet), Jacob Garchik (trombone), Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums). The twin debuts for Nonesuch Records, released in May 2022, were called “...new landmarks in Halvorson’s already inimitable discography” in a five star review by The Guardian. Collaborative projects include the longstanding collective ensemble Thumbscrew (with Michael Formanek and Fujiwara), and a chamber-jazz duo with violist Jessica Pavone. Over the past two decades Ms. Halvorson has also performed in bands led by Anthony Braxton, Tim Berne, Taylor Ho Bynum, Trevor Dunn, Ingrid Laubrock, Myra Melford, Jason Moran, Joe Morris, Tom Rainey, Tomeka Reid, Marc Ribot, Ches Smith and John Zorn, among others.

Brooklyn-based Tomas Fujiwara is an active player in some of the most exciting music of the current generation. He leads the bands Triple Double, 7 Poets Trio, and Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up; has a collaborative duo with Taylor Ho Bynum; is a member of the collective trio Thumbscrew (with Mary Halvorson and Michael Formanek); and engages in a diversity of creative work with Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Mary Halvorson, Tomeka Reid, Matana Roberts, Nicole Mitchell, Ben Goldberg, Amir ElSaffar, Benoit Delbecq, and many others. In 2021, he won the Downbeat Critics Poll for Rising Star Drummer, and premiered two suites of new music as part of his Roulette Residency: “You Don’t Have to Try” (with Meshell Ndegeocello) and “Shizuko." “Drummer Tomas Fujiwara works with rhythm as a pliable substance, solid but ever shifting. His style is forward-driving but rarely blunt or aggressive, and never random. He has a way of spreading out the center of a pulse while setting up a rigorous scaffolding of restraint…A conception of the drum set as a full-canvas instrument, almost orchestral in its scope.” (New York Times)

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival: Free Community Event feat. Fractal Quartet
Feb
27

2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival: Free Community Event feat. Fractal Quartet


PDX Jazz is excited to announce a FREE community event featuring Fractal Quartet, featuring Libby Roach (guitar and vocals), Eric Gruber (bass), Whityn Owen (drums) and Noah Bernstein (sax)

Fractal Quintet is a long standing Portland ensemble led by guitarist, vocalist, and composer Libby Roach. Roach’s compositions embrace all of her varied influences, touching on elements as diverse as latin jazz, mixed meter fusion, and soul jazz, all held together by a playful, Zappa-esque sense of fun and experimentation.

Originally hailing from Louisiana, Libby Roach grew up in Ashland, OR and was involved from a very early age in music, theater, and film. Her music has appeared in independent film soundtracks, and her legendary punk rock band Smidgen opened for Primus in Southern Oregon in 2012. Fractal Quintet has long been the forum for the development of Libby’s intricate long form pieces, which tend to be comprised of many contrasting sections and yet seamlessly balance a sense of intense, driving groove with rhythmic adventurousness and strong, lyrical melodies. Her unique brand of fingerstyle rhythm guitar is steeped in samba rhythms and has been developed partially as a result of her trips to South America throughout her life. The tunes “Summertime” and “Sideways” showcase her Bjork influenced vocal work alongside brilliant improvisations from the band’s stellar lineup. “Precipieces” is a unique accomplishment: a record that maintains a strong sense of groove and pop sensibility while never compromising in terms of sophistication and complexity.

The sidemen in Fractal Quintet have all made important contributions to the regional music scene over the last two decades. Keyboardist Andrew Oliver has played with a myriad of Portland jazz icons and led his own bands, including the internationally recognized jazz and West African fusion project “Kora Band” and his chamber jazz collaboration with PJCE Records co-founder Dan Duval, the Ocular Concern. Reed player Lee Elderton has played with Andrew Durkin’s Industrial Jazz Group, Ocular Concern, Optic Nerve Trio, PJCE’s resident large ensemble, and many more. Trumpeter Katy Presley has toured extensively with notable punk and ska bands in addition to collaborating with her father, notable upright bass player Dan Presley (“Tall Jazz”). Upright bass player Eric Gruber has played with Bridgetown Sextet, Andrew Oliver Sextet, and Devin Phillips, among others. Drummer Whityn Owen is a major force behind Fractal Quintet, and has played with notable funk bands Rubberneck and Ben Darwish’s Commotion.

Prior to Whityn Owen’s arrival, the late Kipp Crawford held the drum chair in Fractal Quintet for many years. The Portland music community experienced a deep loss when Kipp was tragically killed in an accident in 2009 at the age of thirty one. Kipp had been a core member of Fractal Quintet for many years, and “Precipieces” includes two pieces which feature Kipp’s drumming and production work. The Ashland Schools Foundation has established the Kipp Crawford Memorial Endowment Fund, which is used to create enriching opportunities for jazz musicians in the Ashland schools. To learn more or donate to the fund, click here.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival: Sullivan Fortner Community Outreach Event
Feb
27

2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival: Sullivan Fortner Community Outreach Event

  • Portland State University, Lincoln Hall, Room 37 (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

PDX Jazz proudly presents: Sullivan Fortner Community Outreach Event

For the past decade, Sullivan Fortner has been stretching deep-rooted talents as a pianist, composer, band leader and uncompromising individualist. The GRAMMY Award-winning artist out of New Orleans received international praise as both key player and producer for his collaborative work on The Window (Mack Avenue, 2018), alongside multi-GRAMMY winner, vocalist-composer Cecile McLorin Salvant. As a solo leader, he has released Moments Preserved (Decca, 2018) and Aria (Impulse!, 2015) to critical acclaim, and he’s only getting started. Now based in New York, Fortner has earned recognition in multiple DownBeat Critics Poll categories, winning first place in Rising Star Piano and Rising Star Jazz Artist.

In addition to associations with such diverse voices as Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Diane Reeves, Etienne Charles and John Scofield, Fortner’s frequent and longtime collaborators have included Ambrose Akinmusire, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Kassa Overall, Tivon Pennicott, Peter Bernstein, Nicholas Payton, Billy Hart, Gary Bartz, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Fred Hersch and the late Roy Hargrove. Recent collaborations include GRAMMY-nominated releases Dear Love (Empress Legacy) and Generations from leaders Jazzmeia Horn and The Baylor Project, respectively.

A highly-sought improviser, Fortner has performed across the country and throughout the world at such cultural institutions as Snug Harbor, New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Lorraine’s and The Jazz Playhouse in New Orleans, and Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jazz Standard and Smalls Jazz Club in New York City. He’s appeared at celebrated festivals, including Newport, Monterey, Discover, Tri-C and Gillmore Keyboard, among others. In 2019, Fortner brought his band to the historic Village Vanguard for a week-long engagement he would reprise in 2020 as a virtual performance during lockdown. His notable studio contributions include work on Etienne Charles’s Kaiso (Culture Shock, 2011), Donald Harrison’s Quantum Leap (FOMP, 2010), and Theo Croker’s The Fundamentals (Left Sided Music, 2007).

Playing solo or leading an orchestra, Fortner engages harmony and rhythmic ideas through curiosity and clarity. Within phrases, he finds universes, and listeners often hear how he’s moved by each note he explores. Coming up in New Orleans, Fortner began playing piano at age 7, following a storied lineage of improvisers, masters of time and every iteration of the blues. He earned his Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory and Master of Music in Jazz Performance from Manhattan School of Music (MSM). A champion of mentorship, Fortner has offered masterclasses at MSM, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), Purdue University, Lafayette Summer Music Workshop, Belmont University and Oberlin Conservatory where he held a faculty position.

Pulling distinct elements from different eras, Fortner’s artistry preserves the tradition and evolves the sound. He seeks connections among different musical styles that are at once deeply soulful and wildly inventive. Both his works and his insights have been featured in culturally iconic publications, from The New York Times to The Root. Accolades include the 2015 Cole Porter Fellowship awarded by the American Pianists Association, Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship, the 2016 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists and, in 2020, the prestigious Shifting Foundation Grant for artistic career development.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz.

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Nicole Glover + Nicole McCabe + Hailey Niswanger
Feb
26

Nicole Glover + Nicole McCabe + Hailey Niswanger

 

This event is a co-bill show and part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz


Nicole Glover + Nicole McCabe + Hailey Niswanger with George Colligan on piano, Logan Kane on bass, and Alan Jones on drums

Nicole Glover

Nicole Glover is a saxophonist, bandleader, composer, and educator currently based in New York City. Growing up in Oregon, she was introduced to the music through her father’s record collection, and studied in programs dedicated to learning jazz music and priming students for touring and performing, such as the award winning American Music Program and Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.

She moved to the East Coast to attend William Paterson University, where she studied with Mulgrew Miller, Harold Mabern, and Rich Perry, and assumed permanent residence in NYC in 2015. She established herself as a rising saxophonist and indemand sideperson, performing throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, and working with esteemed artists such as with Christian McBride, Al Foster, Victor Lewis, George Cables, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Billy Hart, Esperanza Spalding, Renee Rosnes, Kenny Washington, Reggie Workman, Gene Perla, George Colligan, Ben Wolfe, Ulysses Owens, Mike Clark, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Joe Farnsworth, Allison Miller, Joel Ross, Geoffrey Keezer, David Weiss, Luis Perdomo, Aaron Diehl, Jason Brown, Rodney Green, and Bill Goodwin. Additionally, she joined Latin Grammy winning artist Buika for her 2019 world tour, and was invited to join Blue Note supergroup ARTEMIS beginning in 2020.

Nicole McCabe

Nicole McCabe is a saxophonist and composer from Marin County, California. She works and lives in Los Angeles, where she earned a Master’s from University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, studying with Vince Mendoza, Patrice Rushen, and Russell Ferrante. She previously earned a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at Portland State University, where she received the William Bradford and Janet Hughes Mersereau Jazz Scholarship.

McCabe recently released her sophomore album as a bandleader, Landscapes, on the Spanish label Fresh Sound. Inspired by picturesque drives up the West Coast, the record features her first Los Angeles quartet, including Paul Cornish, Myles Martin, and her partner Logan Kane, as well as Knower’s Genevieve Artadi. It stretches McCabe’s hard bop roots into soothing and stylish new territory, informed by an expansive melodic sensibility. A prolific collaborator, McCabe has also played with David Binney, John Escreet, Anna Butterss, Henry Solomon, Sasha Berliner, Louis Cole, Thumpasaurus, and more.

Moving to Los Angeles has shaped McCabe’s approach as a composer and player, as she’s embedded in the city’s interdisciplinary scenes brewing outside the academy and around jazz boundary-stretching labels like Brainfeeder, Leaving, and her home base Minaret Records. McCabe’s 2020 debut, Introducing Nicole McCabe, featured her Portland teachers Alan Jones, Jon Lakey, and George Colligan, in whose band Theoretical Planets she performed. The album helped launch the underground label Minaret, which later released Mini Giraffe, the 2021 album from McCabe and Kane’s electro-jazz project Dolphin Hyperspace.

Hailey Niswanger

MAE.SUN, alternately known as Hailey Niswanger, is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer. In 2016, Niswanger started branching out from her jazz roots, and through meditation, began to channel music that was inspired by a multitude of influences and sounds. “My music started to come from a place that felt so much more than just ‘me’. I wanted to depart from my birth given name, and put music out under a new moniker. MAE is my middle name, and SUN, was chosen from inspiring words by Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, who said, “The sun is our second heart…[the] great heart outside of our body.” Essentially, our universal, collective heart.” MAE.SUN’s music is mindful and eclectic, pushing boundaries and defying genres. Her music taps into the collective consciousness, serving as an engaging mediation for all. Though she can be primarily heard playing her saxophones and flute, MAE.SUN also plays clarinet, piano, and guitar. MAE.SUN’s cosmic debut album ‘Vol. 1: Inter-be’ was released in 2017, followed by ‘Vol. 2: Into The Flow’ in 2019. 

Before 2016, MAE.SUN recorded 3 albums under ‘Hailey Niswanger’, and received many accolades in the jazz community; including winning first place at the Mary Lou Williams saxophone competition at age 19, charting on Billboard, plaudits from esteemed writer Nat Hentoff in the Wall Street Journal, rave reviews in JazzTimes, Jazziz, NPR, and DownBeat, as well as being listed on their critics poll for rising star on alto and soprano saxophone for the past 8 consecutive years. She has toured and performed with a number of notable artists including, Esperanza Spalding, Kenny Barron, Harvey Mason, Wolff & Clark Expedition, Mulatu Astatke, Ralph Peterson, and Terri Lyne Carrington. She also recorded flute on Carrington’s GRAMMY award winning album, The Mosaic Project. In the pop realm, she has performed with Demi Lovato, Sleigh Bells, and most recently her flute playing can be heard on Beyoncé’s ‘Black Parade’. MAE.SUN has performed at notable venues in NYC, including Music Hall of Williamsburg, National Sawdust, and Bowery Electric. MAE.SUN has also performed at the BRIC Jazz Fest, San Jose Jazz Summer Fest, and New York’s Winter Jazz Fest. She performed a live set on WBGO’s The Checkout, and most recently was the featured demo performer for Roland’s new Aerophone Pro. 

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Bassekou Kouyate + Vieux Farka Touré - SOLD OUT!
Feb
25

Bassekou Kouyate + Vieux Farka Touré - SOLD OUT!

 

This event is a co-bill show and part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz


Bassekou Kouyate

Bassekou Kouyate is one of the true masters of the ngoni, an ancient traditional lute found throughout West Africa, and he has collaborated with many musicians in and outside of Mali, such as Ali Farka Toure, Toumani Diabate, Taj Mahal, Damon Alban, Joachim Kühn…).

He rejoices in an unusual band formation, which includes three players of the n’goni, manifested in its differing tonal sizes and 2 percussionists (talking drum, Yabara, Calebasse). Completed by the fantastic singer Amy Sacko, the band performed already at major festival around the globe (e.g. Glastonbury, Roskilde, Fuji Rock Festival, North Sea jazz Festival, WOMAD). In 2013 the BBC chose Bassekou as “best African artist of the year”. His new CD “Miri” is #1 in the world music charts Europe in February and March 2019 and has be voted as “Best Album of the Year” by Songlines magazine. 

Vieux Farka Touré

Often referred to as “The Hendrix of the Sahara”, Vieux Farka Touré was born in Niafunké, Mali in 1981. He is the son of legendary Malian guitar player Ali Farka Touré, who died in 2006. Ali Farka Touré came from a historical tribe of soldiers, and defied his parents in becoming a musician. When Vieux was in his teens, he declared that he also wanted to be a musician. His father disapproved due to the pressures he had experienced being a musician. Rather, he wanted Vieux to become a soldier. But with help from family friend the kora maestro Toumani Diabaté, Vieux eventually convinced his father to give him his blessing to become a musician shortly before Ali passed.

Vieux was initially a drummer / calabash player at Mali’s Institut National des Arts, but secretly began playing guitar in 2001. Ali Farka Touré was weakened with cancer when Vieux announced that he was going to record an album. Ali recorded a couple of tracks with him, and these recordings, which can be heard on Vieux’s debut CD, were amongst his final ones. It has been said that the senior Touré played rough mixes of these songs when people visited him in his final days, at peace with, and proud of, his son’s talent as a musician.

When the COVID pandemic hit in 2020 and all touring ground to a halt, Vieux stayed focussed on his craft at home. He worked tirelessly in the studio he built at his family's compound (which he named 'Studio Ali Farka Toure' in honor of his late father) to record his debut album for World Circuit Records/BMG, the prestigious UK-based record label with whom his father recorded and released most of his own work. The resulting album, 'Les Racines' (released June 2022), sees Vieux masterfully return to the deep roots of the Desert Blues music that his father introduced to the world and Vieux spent most of his career to date exploring, experimenting with, and expanding. 2022 also saw the release of a long-awaited collaborative album between Vieux and Houston-based psych-rock superstars Khruangbin called ‘Ali’ - an album on which the artists join forces to pay homage to Ali Farka Toure by reimagining eight of his songs together. The album was an instant hit around the globe, immediately getting millions of streams, enormous critical acclaim and even earning the praise of Sir Elton John who called it "one of the albums of the year - absolutely wonderful music." With each new project Vieux broadens his horizons, embraces new challenges and further entrenches his reputation as one of the world’s most talented and innovative musicians.

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Keyon Harrold with special guest vocalist Portland’s own Ashley Jayy and opening act Tyrone Hendrix's PDX Soul Collective
Feb
25

Keyon Harrold with special guest vocalist Portland’s own Ashley Jayy and opening act Tyrone Hendrix's PDX Soul Collective


Musically, Harrold lives by the notion that the only thing that identifies a genre is its beat.  That belief has allowed Harrold to tear down the walls of the genre to roam music freely. Keyon’s career is a spectrum of greatness in terms of collaboration and as a solo artist. He is a once-in-a-generation type of talent on trumpet. His approach and sound are personal as well as engaging; a sort of magical haze often referred to as modern-day Mile’s Davis.  Keyon was the trumpet voice of Miles Davis in the “Miles Ahead Film by Don Cheadle; in which the soundtrack received a Grammy Award. 

From touring and recording with Jay-z (“Roc Boys and the Winner is”-American Gangster Album), Beyonce (Bday, Renaissance 2022), Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Cirque Du Soleil, being signed by legendary Rapper Nas (Mass Appeal), and writing the theme song for The Queen Latifah’s Show.

Keyon is a first-call trumpeter, arranger, composer, and music producer, with feature credits on many Grammy Award Winning and Nominated Albums. Keyon has worked in the studio with Keith Richards, Dianna Ross, Black Pumas, Mac Miller (Stay), Big K.R.I.T., and the God MC Nas (The Jarreau of Rap) Leon Bridges (Gold Diggers Sound), and UK crooner Samm Henshaw (Still Broke). Keyon is a frequent collaborator with YEBBA (Distance), Robert Glasper (Black Radio lll, The Photograph, Miles Ahead, Maxwell (Black Summers Night), Common (Beautiful Revolution pt. 1&2, PJ Morton (Emotions, Gumbo, Gumbo Live), and Gregory Porter (Be Good, Take Me To The Alley). 

Harrold is the Artistic Advisor for Jazz St. Louis. He is an activist for social justice, change, and equality. Keyon has two critically acclaimed albums “Introducing Keyon Harrold” (Criss Cross) and The Mugician (Sony Legacy) Keyon has signed to Concord Records and his new release is coming in 2023.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival: Free Community Event feat. Colescott & His Red Hots - SOLD OUT!
Feb
25

2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival: Free Community Event feat. Colescott & His Red Hots - SOLD OUT!

Admission is FREE but seats are limited.  Reserve your tickets to the show!


PDX Jazz is excited to announce a FREE community event featuring Colescott & His Red Hots.

Colescott Rubin is an award winning bassist/tubist/vocalist, vaudevillian circus entertainer, songwriter, dancer, and educator. He has performed around the world, including Argentina, Spain, Iceland, Mexico, & Russia, and with Grammy-winning artists Esperanza Spalding, Patrice Rushen, Catherine Russell, and John Legend, among others. He’s currently on staff at Berklee College of Music, where he and teaches master classes and graduated on a Presidential Scholarship. His band “Colescott & His Red Hots”, named after his grandfather’s 1940s swing band, takes musical inspiration from his great-grandfather, a New Orleans musician who played with Louis Armstrong over 100 years ago. He also tours with his musical family variety act, The Rubin Brothers, who just released their first record in 2023 with their San Diego Quartet. He co-directs the eight piece Rubin Bros Brass Band for the major league rugby team of New England, just made his circus debut in NYC as a musical unicyclist clown, and you can see him on American Idol February 2024.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival: Free Community Event with Chance Hayden’s Desert Room All Stars feat. Shaymus Hanlin
Feb
25

2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival: Free Community Event with Chance Hayden’s Desert Room All Stars feat. Shaymus Hanlin


PDX Jazz is excited to announce a FREE community event with Chance Hayden’s Desert Room All Stars feat. Shaymus Hanlin

Guitarist, composer and producer Chance Hayden presents the Desert Room All Stars, a monthly series every Last Sunday at McMenamins Al’s Den evoking the venue’s storied past in the 50s and 60s as the Desert Room. Formerly a high-class hang for Portland’s underworld where anything desired was obtainable, burlesque and jazz were showcased nightly with a long-term house band led by New Orleans native saxophonist Charlie Gabriel who attracted notable guests such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Sammy Davis Jr. In a similar format, Hayden leads a trio plus various guests performing two sets of mid-century jazz, blues and original works inspired by that period. Hayden’s guitar stylings are rooted deeply at the intersection of these genres, yielding an "adventurous, no-holds-barred sensibility with both bluesy grit and modern-jazz finesse” (Jazz Society Of Oregon). Though the building has undergone numerous changes through the years and become more of a singer-songwriter hub under McMenamins ownership, vibes of the Desert Room era remain highly palpable and Hayden will reveal that Al’s Den stands as one of one of the city’s most iconic rooms for jazz.

This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz

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